Celebrity Exes
What Happened Between ‘Special Forces’ Star Brianna ‘Chickenfry’ & Ex Zach Bryan?
Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia became an Internet celebrity when she joined the Barstool Sports BFFs podcast in 2020. The scrutiny around her intensified, though, when she started dating country singer Zach Bryan in July 2023.
Bryan and LaPaglia’s relationship ended in messy fashion in October 2024. Now, she’s setting out to prove her independence on Season 4 of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test. In a clip from the Thursday, October 9, episode, LaPaglia opens up about the breakup and the toll it took on her.
“I was in a bad relationship, but it was like a public relationship with a famous person,” she explains. “And it was just like … I would leave my house with a smile, but like nobody knew what was happening. I was in a bad spot. I lost sight of myself and I just didn’t want to be here anymore.”
As the former romance is highlighted on the Fox reality show, we’re looking back at the dramatic split. Scroll down for a refresh.
How did Zach Bryan and Brianna ‘Chickenfry’ Meet?
Bryan and LaPaglia met at the Academy of Country Music Awards in May 2023, but were both in relationships at the time. She asked him for a photo at the event, but later said they didn’t interact or talk aside from that. That June, she and her BFFs cohost got to hang out on stage with Bryan, who was newly single, at his New York concert. Again, they did not speak aside from the moment on stage.
Shortly after the concert, LaPaglia broke up with her boyfriend, and Bryan slid into her DMs. “I made a podcast after we went onstage and was like, ‘Eat the rich besides Zach Bryan’ and he posted it and then he DM’d me and said, ‘That was so sweet, thank you guys for coming.’ And then we just started chatting,” LaPaglia said on her podcast.
In July 2023, LaPaglia confirmed the relationship, but said it was “casual” and that she and Bryan were just “having fun.”
What happened between Zach Bryan and Brianna ‘Chickenfry’?
Things eventually got more serious, but on October 22, 2024, Bryan confirmed the breakup on his Instagram Story. “I respect and love her with every ounce of my heart,” he wrote. “She has loved me unconditionally for a very long time and that I’ll always thank her for. I have had a pretty hard year personally and struggled through some pretty severe things. I thought it would be beneficial for both of us to go our different ways.”
Later that day, LaPaglia addressed the situation on her own Story, writing, “Hey guys, I’m feeling really blindsided right now. Gonna hop off social media for a while and attempt to heal privately, when I’m ready I’ll be back and ready to talk. I love you guys so much thank you for all of your kind words. Remember you are so loved and everything’s always gonna be okay.”
She later revealed that she used the word “blindsided” because she had no idea Bryan was making that public post about their relationship. “I just woke up to Zach posting on his Instagram that we broke up and I had no idea that post was going up, he didn’t text me, he didn’t call me,” she explained.
When she returned to the BFFs podcast on November 7, 2023, she shared that Bryan first tried to break up with her over text while she was away on a tour. When she got home, they broke up, then got back together, and went their separate ways again. The relationship officially ended via a text conversation.
Amid that podcast conversation, LaPaglia also accused her ex of emotional abuse. “The last year of my life has been the hardest year of my life dealing with the abuse from this dude,” she claimed. “I’m still scared right now because I’m scared of him. My brain’s rewired, and I’m scared to make him mad.”
LaPaglia said that the “switch” in Bryan’s behavior began four months into their relationship. “I went through literal narcissistic, emotional abuse for a year,” she continued. “And he made me believe everything was my fault. He isolated me from my whole entire life, he wouldn’t let me be who I wanted to be, he made me hate everything that I loved about myself. He broke me down and then made me feel like he was all I had left, and he just kept repeatedly beating me down and beating me down.”
She shared specific instances of his alleged abuse, including how Bryan allegedly disparaged her for the dress she wore to the 2024 Golden Globes. “He said he didn’t want to date someone who presents themselves that way,” she revealed. “He makes me believe that I have to change my image to keep up with his, or something, so I was twisted in the head
Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy has defended LaPaglia, saying of Bryan, “Every time I met him, I was not comfortable with him. He just seemed like an insecure, immature, not-confident baby.”
How much money did Zach Bryan offer Brianna ‘Chickenfry’?
LaPaglia accused Bryan of offering her $12 million and an apartment in New York City in exchange for her signing an NDA to not talk about their relationship. However, she refused to take the alleged offer, although she admittedly thought about it “for a second.”
“You made the women before me believe that they had no other choice but to take money from you,” she said on BFFs. “[They] signed their experiences and what they went through away [so] you get to go skip off and sing you little f**king songs on stage like you’re a good dude.”
She added, “This isn’t, like, a drama thing for me. This isn’t me not signing the NDA and not taking the money because I want to get on here and expose who he is and his secrets and all that s**t. I didn’t take the money because I’m not signing away my experiences and what I went through to protect someone that hurt me. I’m a lot stronger than a weak man.”
Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, Thursdays, 9/8c, Fox
